The Approaching Storm
by The Lady of the Mists
Summary: Complete. Kat Lawrence was a normal girl, newly engaged, with a nice life in L.A. until she started developing telekinesis and found her fiance, sister, and mother dead within 24 hours. Now, she embarks on a journey to lead her to her destiny.
1. A Hunter Born

**The Approaching Storm**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter One: A Hunter Born

Kathryn Lawrence ran her fingers through her brown hair as she pulled the car into the space outside of her apartment that she shared with her fiancé Zack Oliver. With a small groan, she climbed out of her car and climbed up the stairs to apartment 4B, opening up the door as she tossed her purse and coat on the chair before looking around for her fiancé.

"Zack?" she called out, half-expecting him to come out to greet her, his cocky smile on his face before asking her about her day. Probably slimy and smelly from his job at the construction company, too. But Zack didn't appear. She frowned, closing the door behind her, looking around the apartment uneasily. "Zack?" Kat called again. "Sweetie, are you here? Hello?"

Apprehension swarmed through her as she walked through the apartment, not sure what she was looking for when she looked around, grabbing a bat from the closet to be on the safe side. After all, it was Los Angeles. And despite her imploring, Zack was being stupidly stubborn about not installing a security system.

"Honey, there's nothing coming through that door that I can't handle," he had told her jokingly before giving her a quick kiss and headed off to work, calling back words of adoration as he left. Kat had rolled her eyes in annoyance, but reluctant acceptance at the time, but now she wished that she had worked harder for him to install it.

Heart beating, Kat walked through the apartment and into their bedroom, where she found the curtains closed and the room dark and quiet as she saw a figure lying on the bed, quiet and still. "Zack?" she asked, softly this time, in case he was sleeping. There was no answer. "Zack, are you asleep? It's after five o'clock."

When there was once again no answer, Kat shook her head, realising how exhausted he must've been, and closed the door behind her, letting him sleep. Suppressing a sigh, she headed into the kitchen, taking a deep breath as she laid her head down on the table.

Hearing a noise behind her, Kat looked around fearfully, but her shoulders relaxed when she saw a soda can floating in midair behind her and she reluctantly took it, knowing she needed some caffeine.

Almost a week had passed since her ability started and she discovered that she could move things with her mind. She wasn't even entirely sure _how_ she could do it, how she was moving them, all that she knew was that she could. It freaked her out at first and she locked herself in the bathroom for two hours before Zack convinced her to come out. Kat couldn't bring herself to tell him what had really happened. His father was a scientist and had brought his son up in such a way that such things didn't happen.

Kat sometimes wondered how they even got along, considering how much she did believe in things that couldn't be explained away by logic or stone-cold facts. But she loved Zack; he was so good to her that she couldn't let one minor disagreement get in the way of their love.

Still, she could tell that he was worried about her, but most likely decided that it was nerves for their upcoming wedding.

Sipping the soda, Kat almost jumped when the phone rang and she shook her head, standing up and walking over to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey, stranger, what's up?" a familiar, bright, happy voice said excitedly at the other end. Kat smiled faintly as she recognised her little sister's voice.

"Hi, Stephanie," she said as she moved back over to the refrigerator, trying to figure out what to cook for dinner. Zack would probably be up soon; not even sleep would get him out of a meal. "How's everything back home?"

"Everything's great, Mom just got a new boyfriend and he's amazing. He cooks almost as well as you do," Stephanie babbled on. "I really think that this one might be a keeper."

"Uh-huh. Wasn't that what you said about Jim the bartender, Andrew the lawyer, Quentin the palaeontologist, and . . . who was the last one? Matthew the . . . oh, what was he, a car salesman?"

Stephanie said something under her voice that Kat guessed probably wasn't to be said within their mother's hearing. "You know what, you're the one who went all the way across the country to go to school and then decided that you liked L.A. so much you wanted to live there and hooked up with a really hot carpenter and got engaged. So excuse me, but I'm the one who has to live around our messed up mother who can't decide what she wants in a guy. I'm trying to be optimistic and hope that this one sticks around."

"Sure, until he rides out of town on his Harley with half of her cash stuck in his wallet."

"Ha, ha. That was only Jim and it was only about two hundred bucks. Which, compared to how much she has in the bank, isn't a whole lot." She sighed. "You know, this isn't why I was calling."

"Never is," Kat agreed as she pulled some chicken out of the freezer and began to prepare them. "So what's up, little sister? Why'd you suddenly want to call me up? Not that I mind talking, it's just that you never call unless you've got a good reason. So what's the reason?"

"Hey, I call sometimes just to chat," Stephanie insisted. Kat rolled her eyes before sticking the chicken in the oven. "Okay, occasionally . . . almost never do I call. Jeez, why do you have to be so darn perceptive?"

"Because I'm a Cancer," Kat answered. "Why are you avoiding the subject?"

"Oh, because . . . oh!" Stephanie grunted and Kat smiled as she heard her sister run into something. "Why does Mom always have to keep her stuff lying around? I just bumped into a freaking box of computer disks."

"Because she's Mom," Kat said smoothly. "Now, did you want to tell me what you call me about or do we just keep chatting and run up the phone bill?" She glanced up as she heard something behind her, but when she looked, there was nothing there.

"Okay, well, it's about Dad," Stephanie said almost awkwardly. "I was . . . I was going through some of the stuff in the attic the other day and there was this whole box of Dad's old stuff, in a fire safe."

"Yeah, and?"

"And it's all weird stuff. Books on demonology and other junk like that. There's a couple weapons in there, too, knives and some silver bullets. Why would Dad have had stuff like that?"

"I don't know, Steph, he went on a lot of hunting trips when we were kids, so maybe that stuff was just hunting stuff," Kat said, shrugging.

"Yeah, but the demonology stuff? I mean, if he was hunting, then what exactly was he hunting? I figured I should ask you, since you're the freak who believes in ghosts and whatever." Kat said nothing, all too aware of how her sister felt about the supernatural. "So, do you think he was hunting stuff or maybe they should've just had him admitted into a mental institution before he got killed?"

Kat said nothing, just ran her fingers over her hair impatiently. "Steph, I've got stuff to do, okay?"

"No, come on, you don't seriously believe that Dad could've been hunting demons and whatnot. I mean, those things don't exist."

"I'll talk to you later, Steph." Kat hung up before her sister could get in another word and she sighed, leaning her head back.

Was it possible? she wondered, trying to stay calm. Was it possible that her father, like her, believed in the supernatural and went to go and hunt it? What would he think of his daughter suddenly showing powers, powers that she couldn't explain?

Kat looked around as she heard a noise again and she whirled around, searching for whatever was inside their apartment. "Zack?" she said, her voice shaking. "Is that you?"

But the noise continued and she looked around for any sign of the source as she left the kitchen and looked around, gripping a knife tightly. Kat's heart was pounding as she heard the noise again, coming from the bedroom, and she slowly stepped towards it, opening the door.

"Zack?" she whispered, praying that he could hear her this time and answer him.

But still, there was no answer, but that didn't tell Kat whether or not he was all right. The man slept like the dead when he put his mind to it and Kat had long ago stopped trying to wake him up when he was asleep. But this was an emergency.

Flipping on the switch, Kat froze when she realised that the bed was empty. The sheets had been turned and it was clear someone had slept in it, but there was no one there. "Zack?" she asked worriedly. The bathroom door was open, so he couldn't be there.

Then she heard it; a faint splatter on the sheets and she turned around, not seeing anything at first, but then, out of nowhere, she saw it.

Blood.

On his pillow.

Breath quavering and praying against all odds that she was wrong, Kat slowly raised her head towards the ceiling and let out a bloodcurdling scream that came from deep within her heart.

Zack was on the ceiling, blood on his stomach, his expression twisted into fear and horror, and staring down blankly at his fiancée. Kat was still screaming as she stumbled away from the sight, horror running through her as he burst into flames.

"No! Zack!" she screamed as flames swarmed around the room and licked her skin. Kat batted them away, trying to get to Zack, but by now, the entire room was engulfed by the flames. There was no way that she could get to her fiancé and live.

Feeling as though she were abandoning him, Kat ran out of the apartment and nearly collided with Marcie, her next door neighbour.

"Kat? What's wrong?" she asked upon seeing the brunette's expression. She frowned slightly. "Is that smoke?" she asked.

"There's—there's a fire . . ." Kat tried to explain while her mind was in a state of shock. "Zack . . ."

Marcie's mouth opened in horror, but she said nothing, just dragged Kat back to her apartment, shoved her into a chair before dashing to the phone and calling the fire department.

--

Seven hours later, Kat was sitting out in her car, just starring at the wheel. What little that the fire department had been able to salvage from her apartment was in a box beside her.

They claimed that the fire had been accidental, maybe a candle caught fire or something, even though Kat insisted that they didn't keep candles in the bedroom. But she kept her mouth shut about what she saw, knowing that they wouldn't believe her, that they would just think she was crazy and lock her up in a mental institution.

Kat knew what she had seen. No one could've been pinned to the ceiling the way that Zack had. Nothing in the normal, mundane world could explain what had happened back there and why. She needed to find answers and the only place she knew was back home.

Back in Boston.

Stephanie had said that there was a fire safe with Dad's old stuff in it. Kat had always been suspicious about the way that he died, thinking maybe there was more to the story. And now, she was starting to think that she was stumbling onto his tale.

Starting up the car, Kat backed the car out of the parking lot, getting on the highway. It was a long drive from L.A. to Boston. But if she needed to find answers, then that's where she needed to go. And maybe, just maybe, she could find part of herself as well.

--

Kat turned on the street that she knew so well, heading towards the house that she had grown up in, that she and Stephanie had played in when they were little girls, but there was nothing there. Sucking in her breath, she realised that she was pulling towards the spot where her house had once stood and all that was left was the bare foundations.

Anguish ran through her as she climbed out of the car, running towards her old house and stepping into what used to be the foyer. "Oh, my god," she whispered as she looked around.

Zack. Stephanie. Mom. Maybe even Mom's new boyfriend. All of them, gone, in the space of twenty-four hours.

Rage ran through her and she let out a scream that was not that of a young girl. It was that of a hunter.

A hunter who had lost everything that she cared about, everyone that she loved, and everyone who meant anything to her.

With rage blazing in her blue eyes, Kat looked towards the sky. "Time to get to work," she whispered.

--

AN: Okay, please be kind, this is the first Supernatural fic that I've ever written.


	2. Her Father's Legacy

**The Approaching Storm**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Two: Her Father's Legacy

"I'm very sorry for you loss, Miss Lawrence," the police chief told her as she was led into the back room where they were keeping what they'd managed to salvage, which included a fire safe that her sister had been telling her about mere hours before the fire. "I didn't think that you would've been contacted just yet."

Kat shrugged. "Well, I had a bad feeling all day yesterday and when I called, nobody answered, so I came back home and found the wreckage." She shoved her hands into her pockets. "So, uh . . . are there any theories on how the fire got started?"

"Honestly? The fire house has no idea. There's nothing to indicate how the fire started or even why. It's almost as if it appeared out of nowhere." The police chief sighed as he led her into his office, showing her the two boxes that made it out of her house beside the fire safe. "So . . . uh, will you be staying long in Boston?"

"Sorry, I can't," Kat said, feigning regret. "I've, uh . . . I've got to get to work."

"Surely, they'll understand—"

"Chief," Kat said, straining the sentence. "_I_ need to get to work." She let this sink in as he nodded, saying no more on the subject as he walked out of the room, letting her go through her families things.

There wasn't much in the boxes. A few photographs, one of her mother's china dishes that her great-great-great grandmother had hand-painted, a recipe book, her sister's blanket that their mother made for her when she was a baby . . . and her father's jacket.

She would recognise that anywhere. How many times had she seen her father wear that leather jacket? It was what he had been wearing when he was brought home, dead. Her mother had taken the jacket and put it in a cedar chest and barely even looked at it any more. Sometimes, when she was a child and her mother wasn't home, Kat would sneak up into her mother's room to take out the jacket and put it on, smelling the old leather as she felt her father's protection wrap around her like a cloak.

Kat was eight years old when her father died, but she still remembered everything about him, every gesture, every smile, even his voice. Her short stature and brown hair she had inherited from her mother, but her bright, vivid blue eyes and quiet demeanour, Kat got from her father. Not to mention, the fascination with the supernatural.

Picking up the leather jacket, Kat pulled it on around her, sniffing leather as she pulled it tighter around her and picked up the few boxes and carried them out before going back and picking up the fire safe, carrying it out to her car with the others before she thanked the police chief and drove back to the motel she was staying at.

The fire safe had been broken open, so she didn't need the key, but Kat wasn't sure what to expect when she opened it up. Stephanie had mentioned books on demonology and a few weapons, but she hadn't expected anything this massive.

Not only was there about five or six demonology books in the safe, but there was a binder with hundreds of pages on demons, spells, and various things from the occult and cities—anything that she could have thought of was in the binder. And the parts that weren't from old newspapers were in her father's handwriting.

"Dad," Kat whispered brokenly as she was suddenly hit in full wave of everything that had happened over the past couple days. In less than twenty-four hours, everyone that she had ever loved had been ripped away from her and she was shoved into a world that she didn't understand, but somehow felt a part of.

Falling down onto the bed, Kat broke down into sobs, gripping her hair tightly as she curled into a ball, crying her heart out for her parents, her fiancé, and her sister, the people that she had loved that had been ripped away from her for some purpose that she didn't understand. All that Kat knew was that she was a part of something bigger, something that was apart of where her abilities had sprung from.

And now, she alone had to find out what.

When she finally had worn out her tears, Kat sat up, tears still streaming down her cheeks as she pulled the binder towards her again, flipping through the pages again. They were in no order, so there was nothing to tell her if there was something in there that could help her.

It wasn't until she had reached the very end that Kat finally saw it: an envelope that was slipped into the very back of the binder. Kat stared at it before she pulled it out, finding her own name on the front of it, in her father's handwriting.

Taking a deep, unsteady breath, Kat closed her eyes, trying to control her emotions as she slit open the envelope with her finger and pulled open the slightly yellowed letter and began to read the words that her father had left to her long ago.

_My little fox,_

_If you've found this letter and my safe, then that means that I'm either dead or dying. I really hope that you can forgive me, for not telling you the things that a father should have told you or letting you know of the dangers that this world really brings. _

_I'm a hunter, Kat. And I'm not talking about hunting bear or elk or any of that stuff. I'm talking about hunting things that you never could imagine. Demons, ghosts, poltergeists, curses, spells . . . any of this stuff, I go after and I try and stop it so that people can't be hurt by it anymore. They can go on their lives in ignorance and bliss. _

_Sometimes, I miss that innocence, the innocence that I see in you and Stephanie every day. As I'm writing this, you and Steph are upstairs, playing hide and seek. Your mom's in the kitchen, cooking dinner—or at least, attempting to. You know how bad her cooking is. But when I was introduced to this world, I found that I couldn't run away from it. _

_When I was just a boy, my father was murdered by a demon. I didn't know until later, when I saw my best friend killed right in front of me by a Wendigo. Luckily, I had a flare gun to scare it off, but then I couldn't ignore what was happening or what I saw. So I dove into finding out what it was and why and I became a hunter. _

_After what seemed like forever, I met your mom and fell in love with her. I couldn't give up hunting, even though she begged me to, but I compromised myself to going on hunts only for a little while. Only a couple jobs every once in awhile, when I really needed to or when people needed my help. Your mom wasn't happy, but she compromised. _

_Even though I loved hunting and missed going as much as I used to, I did love this simple normal life and my girls. It reminded me of why I hunted and what I was trying to create for people. Futures with their families and keeping them from being taken away like my best friend and my father. _

_Kat, I'm sure that you will have grown up into a beautiful and bright young woman. I can't imagine how old you must be by now and to be honest, I really hope that you're an old lady in her rocker reading this, because I don't want this life for you. _

_But I know that, if you do find this and are hurt by the same evil, then you'll do what I did and fight it. There's so much of me in you that it scares me, Kat. And even though I'm probably dead, I can't just say in this letter that I forbid you to do this, because if you're anything like me, I know you won't. You can't once the cloak of ignorance has been lifted. _

_So instead, I'm leaving all of my hunting stuff to you. My books in the safe will help you get started, but what I _order _you to keep with you is my journal, the binder that I'm gonna put this inside. Everything that I have learned about demons is inside of this. I hope that it'll protect you. _

_All of my weapons—my guns, knives, everything—is up at my family's cabin in the woods. If you don't remember how to get there, just take the Old Forest Road and then turn on Lawrence Dr. It'll take you right to the cabin. There's a key underneath the statue of the frog. _

_Kat, I know it's pointless to tell you this, but I'm begging you to be careful and don't let yourself get killed. There are a lot of dangerous things out there and shockingly enough, some of them are even human. Don't ever forget that. Not all the dangers are demonic. _

_I know that I should've said some different things when you were a kid, like tell you not to be afraid of the thing in your closet. But the point was that I _couldn't_ tell you that. You should be afraid. The things out there are more dangerous and deadly than you can imagine. I don't want this life for you, but you're my daughter. And I know that you won't let go. _

_So just promise me something, kiddo. If you ever need any help, then contact Ellen at the Roadhouse. It's sort of a bar for hunters. Just tell her that you're Jack Lawrence's daughter. She'll help you. She's a good friend. _

_Kat, I love you. Don't ever think that I didn't. Hunting was more than just trying to create futures for complete strangers. It was also about trying to create a better world for you and Stephanie. I think that by the time you find this, you'll be old enough to understand that. You'll always be my little girl, my cunning little fox, who shows all the signs of being a great hunter, even at the age of eight. _

_Keep your chin up and never let your guard down. It could be the last mistake you ever make. _

_Love,_

_Your dad_

_P.S.: Put salt around the windows and doors wherever you go. It'll keep the demons from getting in._

Kat, who had been crying by the time that she finished her dad's letter, stared at the postscript.

"Salt?" she echoed.

--

It was early the next morning when Kat set out for Highway 20, heading for her dad's old cabin. She remembered it well-enough; how many times had she gone with her dad up to this cabin. It had been almost fifteen years since Kat had been in the place, but she still remembered exactly where it was and where it stood.

When she finally pulled in front of the old cabin, Kat climbed out of her car, hoisting her bag higher onto her shoulder as she walked onto the porch, searching around for the frog that he mentioned in his letter.

Finally, she found it, by the entire statuary of pond animals. Kat rolled her eyes; she had forgotten about her mother's taste in statuary. She must've insisted on decorating the place so that it didn't look like a bachelor's pad.

Picking up the key, Kat walked over to the cabin and pushed open the door, coughing as dust came flying at her and waving her hand to ward it away. "Jeez, did nobody hire a cleaning lady around here?" Kat muttered as she stepped into the abandoned cabin.

She was probably the first person to step inside in fifteen years, Kat thought as she stepped further into the cabin, looking around and shook her head as she found salt on all the windows and doors.

"Okay, I guess Dad _wasn't_ kidding about that," she muttered as she walked through the cabin, finding the bedroom easily. Apart from more dust than she was sure she could stand, she found a chest at the end of the bed.

Walking over to it, Kat pushed open the lid and found a whole arsenal of weapons in it. She gave a low whistle as she stared at them.

Most of them looked like they were old and worn in. But there were a few that looked as though they were brand-new, apart from the fact that they were about fifteen years old. Kat frowned as she picked up another note that had her father's handwriting on it.

_Here's some stuff to get you started. Hopefully, you know how to use them, because I don't want my little girl going out and hurting someone by accident. _

_Dad_

Kat smiled as she picked up one of the guns. "Don't worry, Dad," she said dryly. "I know how to use it." Living in Boston and L.A., she had taught herself how to shoot just in case someone broke into her apartment. She'd never actually shot someone, but she did know how to shoot.

Picking up a few other weapons that she thought that she might need, Kat placed them in the bag that she had brought with her, making sure that they were unloaded before she headed back to her car, loading up the weapons in her trunk before shutting it closed and taking a last look around at the place where she had spent half of her childhood.

"Don't worry, Dad," she said softly to the gently breezing air, "I won't let you down. I'll make you proud."

And with that promise hanging in the air, Kat climbed into her car and started driving into a world that Kat Lawrence no longer inhabited and Kat the demon hunter was born.


	3. Others Like Her

**The Approaching Storm**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Three: Others Like Her

Letting out a slow breath, Kat released a sigh as she pushed open the door to her motel room, tossing her bag on the bed as she headed towards the shower, smiling contentedly as she felt all the grime and sweat and blood roll off of her and into the drain. Raising her hands, she ran them through her hair, attempting to wash her matted hair as she closed her eyes.

One year had passed since the deaths of her family and in that year, Kat had grown up in more ways than she could have imagined. Following in her father's footsteps, she had become a hunter and learned how to hunt and kill demons and other supernatural creatures. But she still had been unable to track down the one that she wanted to find more than any other.

The one who killed Zack, Stephanie, and her mother.

Kat needed to move on from that terrible event and she knew that the only way that she would be able to do that completely was when the demon was dead. But much as she had tried tracking it, she couldn't find its pattern.

What she had found instead was others like her, people with supernatural abilities. There had been a couple, various people in numerous cities and town and states. Lily in San Diego was probably the most dangerous that she had met so far: the girl had the power to stop hearts. Much as Kat had tried to help her, Lily had pretty much locked herself in her house in order to stop herself from hurting people.

But that wasn't what worried her the most: what worried her was that all the people with special abilities were all twenty-three, like her, and most of them had gone missing over the past year. They had never been seen or heard from again. Kat had been trying to figure out who or what had been taking them, but there were no traces as to what could have taken them, other than there was a pile of bodies wherever they were as well as traces of sulphur; she could smell it, even awhile after the disappearances happened.

Kat stepped out of the shower and pulled on some clean clothes, brushing out her hair carefully before she walked over to the refrigerator and making a face when she saw three days old turkey from the deli. After almost a week on it, she was getting a little tired of it.

Picking up her purse and slipping a knife into her boot where she usually kept it, Kat headed out the door again, wanting to get a decent meal before she took off, looking for a new job. Maybe she could head to Tennessee; that was one state that she hadn't been to yet.

Pulling her car out of the lot, Kat drove through Seattle, trying to find a cheap restaurant to eat at when she thought she smelled a strong scent of sulphur coming from nearby.

Driving into the nearest parking lot, Kat climbed out of the car, picking up a flashlight and started walking around, trying to figure out where she was smelling it.

"Come on, where is it?" she muttered as she walked through the near-abandoned street, save for a few people walking nearby. Kat glanced longingly as a young man was twirling his girlfriend around before kissing her lovingly, but kept her mind focused on the task.

But before she could even react, she heard a scream and looked around just in time to see the couple on the ground with their throats slit when her vision suddenly began to go out in front of her. The last thing that she remembered before she blacked out was the very strong smell of sulphur mixed with the blood of anyone who was in that alley.

--

With a groan, Kat struggled to open her eyes, blinking as she saw clouds hovering above her and frowned, realising that she was lying on the ground. Trying to keep her head from spinning—or throw up, she felt like she was going to lose everything that was in her stomach—Kat slowly got to her feet, swaying slightly before she caught hold of a railing and straightened, counting to ten before she tried walking again.

When she looked around, Kat had to blink again as she stared at her surroundings. She was in what looked like a ghost town, like an old nineteenth century town that had long since been abandoned. At least, there wasn't anybody around that she could see.

"Hello?" Kat called out cautiously as she hesitantly walked through the town, wondering not for the first time where she was and how she had gotten here. The last thing she remembered was trying to figure out where that sulphur had been coming form in that alley.

She groaned again, this time out of annoyance. Of course, the demon must've knocked her out and dumped her here. Wherever here was, anyway, she added mentally as she took another look around. Seriously, didn't they have anything better to do with their time than to kill people for their own sick, twisted pleasure?

Kat glanced up as she heard shouting from up ahead and frowned. _Maybe I'm not alone after all,_ she thought as she hurried forward, heading towards where she heard the voices, her brown hair flying out from behind her. "Hello?" she called. "Is somebody there?"

"Over here!" a male voice called out and she turned to where she heard the voice, nearly slamming into a very tall man and probably would've fallen had he not reached out and caught her hand, steadying her. Only when she recovered her balance did Kat look up at him.

He was much taller than her, probably reaching six feet easily, with a mop of brown hair hanging in his face and into his brown eyes, which bore a look of intelligence, but as she looked closer, she saw more than that in his eyes. She saw that of a hunter.

Kat realised that he was still holding her hand and pulled her hand back, noticing that he was not alone for the first time. There was a short guy with brown hair and kind of goofy looking standing awkwardly nearby, looking as though he were completely freaked out by this. Standing next to the two men was a girl about Kat's age with short brown hair and blue eyes.

And maybe it was just Kat, but she sensed that there was something off about her, like she was hiding something from the rest of the world. Sure, she didn't look dangerous, but sometimes, the most dangerous of predators were hidden behind a friendly face.

"Are you all right?" the first guy asked her. She nodded, looking back at him. "I'm Sam. This is Andy and Ava."

"Kat," she replied, looking around at them all. "Any idea on what's going on around here?"

"Well . . . you wouldn't by any chance be twenty-three?" he asked her. Kat looked back at him, now sure that he wasn't just some average Joe. Just by the look in his eyes, she was sure that he knew more about this than the rest of them. Maybe more than her. "And do you by any chance have some sort of ability?"

The other two were looking at her curiously now and Kat felt very uncomfortable at the attention. It had been over a year since she had really had any contact with anybody. At least, not anybody that she had been working on trying to save.

"Telekinesis," she finally admitted. "You guys too?"

"Yeah," Sam answered with a nod. "You haven't by any chance seen anybody else, have you?" She shook her head just as they heard another man shouting from nearby. "Maybe it's more than just the four of us."

Kat hurried to catch up with him, despite the fact that his legs were much longer than hers and found a military guy with a blonde girl that was very familiar to her.

"Lily?" she asked incredulously. The psychic that she had met in San Diego looked back at her grimly, recognising her as well.

"Kat," she said as she kept her hands firmly in her pockets. "How did you get here?"

"I'm guessing the same way that all of us did," Kat admitted, gripping the edges of her jacket as she looked towards the military guy. "Who are you?"

"Jake," he answered.

"Hi, I'm Sam," Kat's fellow hunter said.

"I'm Andy."

"Ava," the mysterious girl said. Kat shivered slightly, still feeling that weird sensation around her, but put it aside for the moment. Unfortunately, there were more important things to worry about than some freaky girl that was giving her a bad vibe.

"How did all of us get here?" Lily pestered. "A minute ago, I was in San Diego."

"If it makes you feel any better, I went to sleep last night in Afghanistan," Jake offered consolingly. Kat chuckled, a rare smile escaping from her as she looked at Sam.

"Let me guess, you both are both twenty-three?" he asked. They both looked at him, surprised. "We all are. And we all have . . . abilities. It started a little over a year ago? You found you could do things . . . things you didn't think were possible?" Lily stared at him, then at Kat incredulously. Kat only shrugged, letting Sam do the talking. She really wasn't that comfortably talking to people, not unless it involved a job. "I have visions. I see things before they happen."

"Yeah, me, too," Ava said, nodding.

"I can move things with my mind," Kat offered.

"Yeah, and I can put thoughts into people's heads. Like, make them do stuff. But don't worry; I don't think it works on you guys. Oh, but get this," Andy said, looking at Sam. "I've been practicing, training my brain, like meditation. So now, it's not just thoughts that I can beam out, but images to. Like, anything I want. BAM! People see it. There's this one guy I know, I used it on him: gay porn, all hours of the day." Kat stared at him, before looking at Sam. _Is this guy for real?_ Sam just shrugged, amused and embarrassed. "It was like . . . you should have seen the look on his face."

He suddenly noticed the way that people were looking at him and backed down, rejoining Sam, Kat, and Ava where they were standing. Lily was staring at him incredulously. "So you go 'Simon says give me your wallet' and they do? You have visions? That's great! I'd kill for something like that."

"Lily, listen, it's okay," Sam tried to reason with her, but looked at Kat when she placed a hand on his arm, stopping him with a shake of her head.

"No, it's not," Lily snapped at him, emotion in her voice. "I touch people . . . and their hearts stop. I can barely leave my house. My life's not exactly improved. So screw you. I just wanna go home." She turned around to walk away from them.

"And what, we don't?" Jake countered.

Lily rounded on him, her eyes blazing with anger. "You know what, don't talk to me like that—"

Kat put two fingers in her mouth and let out an ear-splitting whistle that caused the arguing to cease fire and everyone looked around at her. "Okay, seriously, enough. I get that you're upset, Lily, but like it or not, we're here. So can we all please work together so we can figure out a way to get all of out of here alive?"

Sam glanced at her with new respect in his eyes and she looked away. It had been a long while since a guy had this effect on her. "She's right," he said, looking at the others.

"Who brought us here?" Andy wanted to know, looking at Sam and Kat for answers. Sam sighed, looking defeated.

"It's less of a who," he finally said, looking towards everyone else. Kat knew what he was going to say, a minute before it said it. "It's more of a what."

"What does that mean?" Ava asked suspiciously.

Sam sighed, looking down and Kat gave the answer, causing everyone to look at her. "It's a demon," she explained, not bothering to look at them, knowing that they were going to be giving her pathetic, 'lock this girl up in a mental institution' looks.

Sure enough, when she finally chanced a glance up, she all saw them staring at her as though she were insane. "That's impossible," Jake finally said, giving voice to the rest of their thoughts.

"She's telling the truth," Sam said before looking at her sideways. "You're a hunter, aren't you?" Kat nodded.

"You too?"

"Yeah," he said with a sigh.

"You don't by any chance know what the demon wants, do you? Because I've been trying to figure that out for over a year."

Sam looked away from her now, towards the others. "Yeah, I do," he answered and began to relay the information that he had. Twenty minutes later, Kat had to sit down in order to deal with the information he had just given them.

"So we're soldiers in the demon's war to bring on the Apocalypse?" Jake demanded. Kat didn't need to look up to see the disbelieving look on his face. It was all too clear in his voice.

"If you put it like that—"

"And we're being picked?" Jake added. Sam nodded. "Why us?"

"I'm not sure," Sam admitted. "Look, I just know—"

"Sam, I'm sorry," Ava protested. "Psychics and spoon bending is one thing, but demons?"

Kat stood up. "Look, it might sound crazy, but how else did all of us get here? Wherever 'here' is," she added, looking around at their surroundings again. "I know I was in Seattle when I got taken. You got here from San Diego, Lily. Jake, you came here from Afghanistan. So you tell me, logically, how else you could've gotten here." No one answered.

"I know that this sounds crazy," Sam told them. "But if all of us are here, that means it's starting and we have to—"

"The only thing I have to do is stay away from nut jobs," Jake interrupted. "FYI: So are you," he added, looking towards everyone besides Kat and Sam, who yelled after him as Jake took off.

Sam sighed just as Kat listened carefully, hearing a soft giggle and she looked at him quickly. "Do you hear that?" she asked. He listened carefully before heading in hot pursuit of Jake, leaving Kat to look at the others. "Everybody, come on," she ordered, heading after Sam, jogging to catch up with him and Jake.

She ran into the building that Sam disappeared into, barely catching a glimpse of a little girl with claw-like nails before Sam swung an iron crowbar through the demon, forcing her to change into a dark cloud and vanishing from sight. Ava, Lily, and Andy looked completely freaked out as they saw this.

"Just so you know," Sam said, looking around at them and Jake, who apart from looking shocked and stunned was unhurt. "That was a demon."

Kat looked at the group at large. "Welcome to our psychotic, crazy, insane world," she deadpanned as she led everyone out of the house.

--

AN: Okay, guys, I'm a little upset at the very few reviews I got on the last chapters, so I'm gonna make a deal with you. If I get three or four reviews by tonight, then I will give you another chapter. What do you say? Do we have a deal?

The Lady of the Mists


	4. One Down

**The Approaching Storm**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Four: One Down

Looking around at Sam, who she hoped had more knowledge than she did about the supernatural stuff—she was slowly getting good at it, but seriously, she was only working on a year into the job—Kat asked, "What kind of demon was that? I haven't seen anything like that before."

"I'm not entirely positive, but I think that was an Acheri," Sam answered as he joined her outside of the house. "A demon that disguises itself as a little girl." He sighed. "Still doesn't tell us where we are." Sam looked back at the rest of the group, noting Andy's expression. "Andy, are you with me or what?"

"Give me a minute," Andy said, sounding stunned. "I'm still working through 'demons are real.'"

"We should keep moving, see if we can find someplace secure," Kat suggested. Sam nodded in agreement and they started walking through the streets, trying to find a house that didn't look like it was going to come apart as soon as they stepped foot into it.

Sam suddenly stopped walking as they stepped into the middle of the town, where a bell was hanging from a wooden structure. Kat stepped closer, taking note of the oak tree engraved on it.

"I've seen that bell before," Sam said softly. She looked around at him. He looked grim. "I think I know where we are now: Cold, Oak, South Dakota."

Kat frowned. "I think I've heard of it. Wasn't that the town that was so haunted that every single resident fled?" He nodded and Ava let out a soft, weak chuckle. Blue eyes flashed towards the other brunette as Kat looked at her, still not entirely trusting the other girl. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was just something off about her.

"Swell," Ava said weakly. "Good to know that we're somewhere so historical."

"Why in the world would that demon or whatever put us here?" Lily wanted to know.

"Good question," Kat muttered.

"I'm wondering the same thing," Sam murmured, taking another look at their surroundings.

"You know what? It doesn't matter." Lily turned away from them and started heading in the opposite direction, towards the wood. "Clearly, the only sane thing to do here is get out of here."

"Lily, hold on a second, we don't know what's out there," Kat protested.

"She's right, Lily, the only way out is through miles of woods," Sam told her gently.

"It beats hanging out with demons," Lily countered, but she at least had stopped where she was, if not turn around to face them. Kat's heart pained for the blonde, knowing what had happened to her after she had received her powers. She had been there when it happened.

"Lily, look, we don't know what's going on yet," Sam pointed out. "Kat's right; we don't know how many of them are out there right now."

"Yeah, look, they're right," Jake agreed, finally siding with them. "We should—"

"Don't say 'we'!" Lily screeched, whirling around on her heel and rounding on them. There were tears in her eyes and she looked as though she were about to go into hysterics. "I'm not part of 'we'! I have nothing in common with any of you."

"Okay, look, I know—" Sam began.

"You don't know anything!" Lily shouted at him before breaking into sobs. "I accidentally touched my girlfriend!" Kat looked down, remembering the accident where Lily had killed her girlfriend by triggering a heart attack just by merely touching her.

Sam was quiet for a long moment before he finally said in a truly sympathetic voice, "I'm sorry."

Kat glanced sideways, surprised by the true compassion in his voice and in his eyes. Most hunters that she knew had long lost that; they had just become obsessed with the hunt and lost any innocence and compassion that they had a long time ago.

"Whatever," Lily muttered, bringing Kat out of her thoughts. "I feel like I'm in a nightmare and it just keeps getting worse and worse."

"We've all lost people, Lily," Kat told her quietly. Everyone looked at her. "I lost everyone that I have ever loved but it's like I told you before; you can't give up. Because if you give up . . . it means they win."

Sam smiled at her and she felt her heart flutter as she looked back at him. "I have a brother out there right now. He could be dead, for all I know. We're all in bad shape. But I'm telling you, the best way out of this is to stick together."

Lily stared stonily back at him. "Fine."

Letting out a slow breath, Kat ran her fingers through her hair, looking at Sam as he took charge. "Okay, we're gonna need any kind of weapon. Silver, iron, salt, anything that you can find that looks like it could be useful, bring it," he instructed the others.

"Salt is a weapon?" Jake asked disbelieving.

"Like I said," Kat said dryly as she headed into the nearest house. "Welcome to our world."

"Well, hopefully, there's food in your world, because I'm freaking starving," Andy said as they all followed her inside.

Kat felt around in her pocket and produced a Hershey's bar, handing it over to Andy with a small smile at him. He looked as though he might kiss her as he took it happily. The look on his face made it worth it, Kat decided as she climbed up the stairs in search of some weapons. Sam followed her as the rest of the group split up.

"So . . . how'd you get involved in this, anyway?" he asked her as they searched through the rooms for some weapons.

"You mean, how did a twenty-three year old girl who's half your size end up killing demons for a living?" Kat asked with a wry smile. Sam chuckled. "It's kind of a long story. My dad was a hunter, I guess, that's . . . helped, but he's not really the only reason." Her thoughts flashed to Zack for a moment, dead for one year and not even properly buried. There had been no body to bury after the fire. Neither had her mother or Stephanie.

Sam looked like he wanted to ask, but decided against it. "My dad was a hunter too," he answered. "After my mom died, he wanted to hunt the thing that killed her. We've been searching for it for twenty-three years."

"It's the demon that put us here?" Kat wanted to know as she found a couple of knives in one of the trunks. She handed one over to Sam, pocketing one for herself. Sam nodded as he gripped the knife, slipping it into his pocket as he looked at her.

"Yeah, it is."

The look on his face frightened her a little and she stood up, crossing the room to look at him directly in the eye. "Now that there's nobody else here," she said quietly. "Tell me the truth. Things are gonna get ugly here, aren't they?"

Sam gave a small nod. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure they will," he agreed. "But we just got to keep our heads. Figure a way to get all of us out of here alive." He sighed. "I really wish my brother was here right now."

"I'm sure, if he's anything like you, he's perfectly fine," Kat assured him. Sam smiled at her in gratitude. "You guys hunt together?"

"Yeah," Sam answered. "We've been doing it since I left Stanford after . . . well, after I decided to get back into hunting." Something made Kat think that wasn't what he was going to say, but since he had respected his privacy, she thought it was only fair that she respect his.

"That's nice," Kat said softly. "It must be nice to work with family. My sister Stephanie . . . she thought that anything to do with this world was insane. More than once, she suggested to Mom that they should lock me up in the mental ward because I believed it, even growing up."

It was the first time, Kat realised suddenly as she stopped talking. That was the first time that she had spoken about Stephanie or her mother in the year since they had died. It was the first time.

"Where's your sister now?"

Kat swallowed, looking away from Sam to stare out the windows. "She's dead," she answered thickly, not wanting him to see her cry. Because she was a girl, most of the hunters she met thought she was less capable of hunting and she hated giving them any reason to believe that she wasn't adept.

But Sam surprised her by touching her shoulder gently and turned around, gently pulling her into his arms and that was when she lost all control, just broke down into sobs, burying her face into Sam's chest as he soothed her, whispering soft words of comfort until she regained her control and pulled away, wiping away her tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, noticing that his shirt was stained with tears. "I got your shirt all wet." Sam looked down.

"Don't worry about it, it's been through worse." Kat chuckled as they heard Andy calling them from downstairs. "Better get your game face on."

Kat let out a small laugh as she wiped away her tears, blinking a couple of times to make sure that she wasn't going to cry again and instantly put on her traditional expression that she hid her emotions behind, pushing everything down until only the demon hunter remained on the surface.

"There's a girl," Sam said approvingly, laying his hand on her shoulder as they headed downstairs, where Andy was holding up two bags of salt.

"Salt!" he said, grinning like a crazed maniac.

"That's great, Andy," Sam said, looking thrilled to see it. And thankfully, so was Kat. At least now they had somewhere to hide so the demons couldn't get to them. "Now all we have to do is . . ." He paused, looking around at the group. "Where's Lily?"

Kat looked around, worried about the blonde. "Lily?" she called.

"LILY!" Sam yelled louder, but none of them got any response. Kat glanced quickly at Ava, noticing the way that she was rubbing her forehead, but pushed that thought of her head as she heard the sounds of a little girl giggling. Blood drained from her face as she hurried outside, Sam right at her heels as the rest of them followed the two hunters.

Sure enough, right outside of the house they were in, dangling from the water tower, was Lily. Kat almost screamed as she saw her . . . well, not really a friend, more of an acquaintance, dangling from the tower with a rope around her neck.

"Oh, my god!" Ava exclaimed the minute that she saw Lily. She covered her mouth to hold back her gasp—or possibly vomit, Kat considered. "Okay that's officially . . . Sam, she dead!" she cried, turning to the tall, brunette hunter. "She's dead! You said that we were chosen for a reason! That is not chosen! That's . . . killed." She tried to walk past the group. "Okay, we have to get out of here."

"No, we can't," Kat protested, realising what had happened. Lily had been trying to get out of here. She should've realised that before; the girl never did listen to reason.

"I second that emotion," Andy said, siding with Ava.

"Not sure that's an option," Jake pointed out, his dark gaze fixed on the blonde girl dangling from the tower.

"What?"

"Lily was trying to leave," Sam explained to the others. "The demon's not going to let us get away that easy." He looked back at Lily momentarily. "We've got to gear up for the next attack."

"Oh, gear up?" Ava said incredulously, looking between Sam, Kat, and Jake evenly before she looked back at Sam, protest written in her every feature and expression. "Okay, well, I'm not a soldier," she pointed out stubbornly. "I can't do that!"

"You wanna stay alive?" Kat countered, blue eyes flashing. "Because if you want to, then you're gonna have to fight." She looked back at Lily, wishing more than ever that she could've done more to save her, but in her heart, she knew that there was nothing more she could've done. Kat had done everything in her power to save her. Much as she hated to admit it, sometimes there were people that she wasn't meant to save.

"Let's go," Sam said, jerking his head towards the house while Jake headed out into the street.

"I'll get her down." Sam nodded gratefully before he looked at Andy.

"You know, I was just thinking how much Dean would help right now. I'd give my arm for a working phone."

Andy frowned, realisation dawning in his eyes. "You know, you may not need one. I've never tried it long-distance before, but do you have anything of Dean's on you? Like, something he touched?"

"Uh . . ." Sam reached into his pockets, pulling out a receipt and handing it to Andy. "I've got a receipt. Would that work?"

"Yeah . . ." Andy looked down at the receipt, reading it carefully before looking at Sam curiously. "D. Hasselhoff?"

"Yeah, that's Dean's signature," Sam said quietly. Kat fought her laughter, but a small giggle escaped from her and he gave her a half-annoyed look. "It's hard to explain.

"All right," Andy said as he concentrated on sending a message to Sam's brother for help.

AN: All right, as promised, here was the next chapter. Thank you guys so much for the reviews! They really do inspire me to keep writing this. So, please, review? Pretty please?

The Lady of the Mists


	5. Two to Go

**The Approaching Storm**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Five: Two to Go

It was a long time that night before Kat finally fell asleep, curled up in a chair with her head laying on her head as she half-sat, half-laid there, her eyes finally fluttering closed as sleep overcame her. And for the first time in a long time, she didn't dream of the fire at her apartment in L.A. or finding her childhood home burnt to the ground.

Instead, she saw her home in Boston as it had been when she was a child. The house was just as beautiful and strong as it had been growing up, she could see her mother's roses in full bloom, there were toys scattered across the lawn, and she could smell the burnt cooking that was customary of her mother's coming from the open window.

Hesitantly, she walked up the sidewalk, heading towards the door and she reaching out, about to open the door when she pulled her hand back. She didn't want to go in the place that had been her home for so long. It would just make her realise that it wasn't coming back, that it was gone and had taken her family with it.

But instead of her opening the door, it opened itself for Kat, who stared at it before she hesitantly walked inside, reaching in her back pocket for the knife that she had put there several hours ago, gripping the handle tightly as she entered into her house.

"Hello?" she called out cautiously, proceeding to the stairs.

There was no one in the living room or the kitchen when she looked, not a soul. Her heart was beating with anticipation as she climbed up the stairs, looking around as she did so, nearly tripping on one of Stephanie's toys as she walked.

"Hello, is someone here?" Kat asked carefully, searching each and every one of the bedrooms until she reached her own. It was the last place that she would've expected someone to be, but it was the only place that she hadn't looked.

And sure enough, there was a girl in there, sixteen years of age, with bright red locks that fell past her shoulders and framing her fierce and lively face. Her blue eyes, as vivid and bright as Kat's own and in the exact same shape, focused on Kat as she gave her the familiar crooked smile that caused the elder Lawrence sister to release a small gasp of anguish.

"Stephanie," she whispered.

"Hey, Kat," Stephanie said brightly as she walked towards the window, pushing it open and hanging out the window. "You can't stay out of trouble, can you? No matter what you do, it always finds you." She shook her head in amusement. "You're in bigger trouble now, more than you realise."

"I don't . . ." Kat shook her head, unable to speak for a minute. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Well, the demon, of course," Stephanie said matter-of-factly. "You know that it's the same one that got us, right? Mom and me and Zack . . . it's the same one."

Kat looked down. "Yes, I know," she confessed. "But I don't know how I'm gonna kill it."

"Stick with Sam Winchester," Stephanie advised. "He and his brother are pretty close to killing that thing. Besides, I don't think that you'd have much of a problem on that end." She winked at her sister, who blushed violently. "I knew it! You like him, don't you?"

"You know, you're just as sadistic and annoying as you ever were, even if you are a ghost," Kat said darkly, causing her sister to laugh. "Stephanie, what are you doing here?"

"I'm . . . the messenger," Stephanie said with a shrug. "You know the whole thing about how you guys are supposedly soldiers in the coming Apocalypse?" Kat nodded; that frightened her. The last thing that she wanted was to be fighting on the demons' side. "Well, that's not exactly the way that it's supposed to go."

"No? Then what is supposed to happen?"

"Well, it's kind of true," Stephanie corrected herself. "But Kat, it's not supposed to be soldiers. Not all of you are supposed to make it out. As a matter of fact, only one of you is supposed to walk out of this alive." Kat stared at her sister, shocked.

"This is a competition?" she echoed, furious. "To the death?"

"That's the way that it's supposed to roll, anyway," her sister mused. "But there might be a way that you can walk out of this with more than one of you still alive."

"How? I'm not going to kill any of them! They're human!"

"Yep, except for that Ava girl, she's not exactly human anymore," Stephanie revealed. Kat frowned in confusion. "Come on, you've always had good instincts, even when we were kids. You know what's going on."

Kat didn't actually have a clue what her sister was talking about, but then again, what else was new? Stephanie had always been her opposite, as though they were two sides of a single coin. Shy and outgoing, serious and playful, neat and disorganised . . . hunter and normal girl.

And then, suddenly, it dawned on her what Stephanie meant. "It's Ava," she said in realisation. "She has been missing for five months . . . what if she's been here the entire time? What if all of the people that have been going missing have been turning up here and she's—"

"Killing them," Stephanie agreed. "Yeah. She's been a very bad girl, that Ava. She's been learning on how to control demons. And she's the one who killed Lily. She says hi, by the way," she added. "And is really sorry that she didn't listen to you guys."

"It's not her fault."

"I know. Her girlfriend's with her now, trying to help her through this." Stephanie rolled on the back of her heels. "But you need to stop her, before she kills everybody else there. You and Sam . . . you two are the ones that the demon is voting for. It's only a question of which one of you is going to come out of this alive, if things go his way."

"They won't." Kat refused to strike against Sam, not unless it was inevitable. Not unless he was trying to kill her first. "We're going to be fine. We're going to get out of this alive."

Stephanie studied her carefully and then grinned. "How could anyone doubt you? You're a Lawrence, after all."

Kat chuckled, then instantly became serious. "I love you, Steph. And I'm sorry . . . I couldn't save you. Tell Mom and Zack I'm sorry."

"I will," Stephanie assured her as her figure became obscure and transparent. "But we're not mad at you. None of us blame you, Kat. This wasn't your fault. And by the way," she added with a grin, "Dad says that if you shack up with Sammy, then John owes him twenty bucks. He said that you two would make a good match for each other."

"Oh, jeez," Kat groaned, rubbing her eyes. "So am I dreaming this or is this really happening?"

"Of course you're dreaming, Katty, but since when does that mean that it's not really happening?" Stephanie took a step towards her, reaching out for her sister. "Time to wake up."

--

"Kat, wake up!"

Blue eyes flew open and she found Sam only a couple of inches away from her. Starting in surprise, she scrambled away from him, forgetting that she had fallen asleep in the chair, and ended up on the floor.

"Don't do that!" she snapped at him, but accepted his help in standing. "You don't stand over a person when they're sleeping! You could give someone a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry," Sam apologised as she took a look around the room and noticed that it was vacant one person: Ava. "But you weren't waking up. Andy was about to pour water on you."

Kat shot a dirty look at Andy, who managed a weak smile. "Remind me to do that to you next time I catch you asleep," she threatened. "Where's Ava?"

"She's missing, Jake and I are going to go look for her," Sam explained as he headed towards the door.

Walking quickly after him, Kat stepped over the line of salt, careful not to break the line. "I'm coming too," she said firmly. Either he thought it would help to have another hunter looking or he thought it wasn't worth the argument, but either way, Sam didn't argue as they walked with Jake outside of the house, splitting up to search for Ava.

Kat was searching through some of the houses when she heard a scream coming from the one she had just left. Just as she was about to go back, she suddenly came face-to-face with the Acheri.

"Oh, great, it's you," she grumbled as the little girl launched herself forward, knocking Kat to the ground. Kat moved out of the way before she could attack and swung her arm, sending a couple of boxes towards the demon, who turned into dust, but swarmed back into view.

Now she really wished that she'd asked Sam how to kill this thing when she'd had the chance. "SAM!" she yelled, trying to get his attention, but apparently he didn't hear her, because there was no sign of him as she blocked the attacks from the Acheri, who was trying every which way to get a good aim onto her.

Kat spun around, yanking the knife out when the demon got in a good punch, sending her to the floor and the knife dropped onto the ground, clattering where she lay.

Just as she kicked upwards, trying to get away, the demon dug its claws into her, slashing at her side.

Pain ran through her and she screamed, trying to get someone—anyone—before she died. No, no, she couldn't die here . . . she wasn't going to die, not here.

And then, she felt the demon's claws retract and she managed to look up at the demon before it vanished from sight, called away by Ava to do her bidding once again. Ava was unaware that she hadn't managed to get rid of one of the psychics.

Of course, that wasn't going to do much good right now. Kat, gasping for breath as bleeding from her injury, passed out where she lay, praying that someone would find her.

--

She wasn't sure how long she had been out. It could have been a couple of hours, it could have been a couple of days, Kat wasn't sure, but it was still night when she got up, clutching her side as she poked her head outside, gripping the doorframe to steady herself.

"Sam?" she called out, trying to get some help. She hated needing rescue, but she was bleeding pretty bad and she couldn't patch herself up. "Jake? Andy? Is anybody here?"

Had Ava gotten to them all while she had been passed out? Was she the only one left here, besides that sick excuse for a human? Kat wasn't sure if she could fight off another attack in her condition.

Still clutching her side, Kat limped over to the other side where they had been hiding out, calling for everyone else, her voice growing weaker and weaker as she walked.

Without warning, a guy suddenly appeared somewhere near her, his eyes looking at her, studying her carefully. He had green eyes and really short brown hair. But there was something about him that made Kat suspect that this was Sam's brother Dean.

"Who are you?" he asked her suspiciously.

"Kat," she answered weakly. "Are you Dean?"

That made him all the more suspicious as he looked at her carefully, noting her injury carefully. "How do you know that?" he demanded. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I already told you, my name's Kat," she said, gripping a railing to steady herself and keep herself from falling. "You're Sam's brother, right?" Dean nodded once. "We all came here, the other psychics . . . your brother was here, too. I don't know where he is now. Is he okay?"

Dean's expression turned to torment for a moment as he glanced back at the house. "He's . . . no, he's not okay," he muttered quietly. "Come on, let's get you patched up and then you can explain what happened here."

"What about Sam?" Kat demanded, slightly panicked as he scooped her up effortlessly and carried her into the house. She squirmed, trying to get free as he deposited her onto a bed and went to go get some medical supplies. "What happened to him? Is he gonna be okay?"

"No."

"What happened to him?!" Kat yelled, yanking free as he tried to patch up her wound.

"I—" Dean looked away, his expression crashing as tears appeared in his eyes. "There was this kid, he . . . he stabbed Sam in the back . . . he's dead."


	6. Sam's Resurrection

**The Approaching Storm**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Six: Sam's Resurrection

Kat let herself drift into unconsciousness after Dean's revelation, wanted nothing to do but just to lay there and hope to lose herself to the dreams, the nightmares, but they didn't come. All she could do was lay there, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what was going to happen next.

Sam was dead. Sam, whom she had liked and was actually starting to have feelings for, was gone to a place that she couldn't follow, not without dying herself and Kat wasn't ready to be all 'demon-hunter-with-a-death-wish' just yet.

It took awhile for her to get out of bed, but Kat finally managed to stand up. Her injuries had been bandaged thanks to Dean and she could move around without much trouble. That wasn't the problem; the problem was that she wasn't sure what she was going to do now.

One thing she did know: that demon was going to be dead as soon as she got her hands on it. He had taken _everything_ from her: her parents, her sister, her fiancé, now Sam too . . .

Well, she was done with it. She was going to hunt him down and kill him; she didn't care what the price was at this point. She was going to kill him. There had to be some way to kill a demon, not just send him back to hell, but to actually kill him . . .

There just had to be.

Kat pulled out a chair in the abandoned cabin that she was in, finding some food on the kitchen table and nibbling at it, not in the mood to eat, but she still needed to keep her strength. Running her hands through her hair, Kat glanced up as she heard Dean in the next room, talking to himself. Or possibly Sam, whose body was still lying there.

While Dean had been in and out of the room, Kat couldn't force herself to step into the room where Sam's body was at just yet. Going into that room, she knew, would mean that there was no turning back. If she took one step into that room, then she knew that she would had to face the truth that Sam was really gone.

And she wasn't sure if she could handle that.

Kat looked up as she heard Dean's voice grow more and more agitated, but she couldn't hear his words. Hesitantly, she walked over to the room, keeping her distance from the door and just stood there, listening.

She knew exactly what he was going through, because she had gone through it too, one year ago. Kat knew perfectly well the heartache, the pain, and the sheer guilt of not being able to protect a younger sibling from this fate. When Stephanie had been murdered, she had felt guilty for not being able to save her sister. Stephanie was her younger sister, she was supposed to look after her and she had failed in that.

"I guess that's what I do," Dean said from the room beyond. "I let down the people I love. I let Dad down. And now I guess I'm supposed to let you down, too. How can I? How am I supposed to live with that? What am I supposed to do, Sammy?" Kat's heart twitched as he gave a small sob. "What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?!" He screamed that last sentence and Kat jumped back as he suddenly stormed out of the room, not even bothering to acknowledge her as she stood there, looking at Dean worriedly.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"To cheat death," he said shortly. "There's salt all around the windows and doors, so don't go anywhere else. You'll be safe here until I get back. Just . . ." He paused and turned to look at her, the agitation evident in his eyes. "Just keep him safe, please."

Staring at him, Kat didn't know what to say or what exactly he was planning, but she nodded, anxiety weighing down upon her. Dean nodded gratefully before leaving the cabin, his footsteps rapidly disappearing as Kat stared after him.

Gripping her knife, Kat sat down at the table again, no longer hungry and very worried about what Dean was going to go do. He had said he was going to cheat death, but what did that mean? What was he going to go do?

Suppressing a sigh, Kat curled up in the chair, wincing slightly as she put pressure on her injuries and shifted her position, laying her head down on her arm as she stared at the room Dean had just come out of.

For a long while, Kat just stared at it, knowing that she was going to have to face the truth if she was going to be ready to fight this demon. How long she sat there, Kat wasn't sure, but when she finally stood up, it felt like it had been hours since she had moved.

Slowly and carefully, Kat moved towards the room where Sam's body lay and she took a deep breath before she stepped into her, feeling ready to vomit as she saw him.

"Oh, god, Sam," she whispered, tears sparkling her eyes as her knife fell from her hand, clattering onto the ground.

It wasn't like she hadn't seen dead bodies before; being a hunter was sort of a prerequisite for that. But she hadn't actually seen the dead body of someone that she knew and cared about. Kat thought she might be sick as she saw Sam's pale and lifeless face, his eyes closed in eternal rest. Her breath was quavering as she took a step closer and slowly sat down on the bed next to him, touching his hand.

She shivered at how cold his hand was, fighting the tears that threatened to spill over. "Sam . . ." she whispered, sobs racking her body and she fled the room, unable to look at his corpse any longer.

Kat reached the main room and walked over to the window, just staring out of it as she sat down, trying to calm herself down. How it was possible that she had let someone into her heart so fast when she had been unable to do it for over a year, Kat didn't know, but . . .

But she cared about Sam, she did. He had touched her in a way that no one else had been able to, not even Zack.

And now he was gone.

Sniffling slightly, Kat stilled as she heard movements in the next room, the room that she had just come out of, and her head shot up. Who could possibly be here? she thought. The doors and windows were salted, no demon could've gotten through there and as far as she knew, no of the rest of the psychics other than her and Jake were left, so . . .

Getting to her feet, Kat moved towards the doorframe and picked up her knife, gripping it tightly before she moved around the corner, ready to move into attack when she saw—

"Sam?" she whispered disbelievingly.

He looked around at her, relief flooding into his now flushed face and she lowered the knife in shocked, unable to believe what she was seeing, but at the same time, she couldn't deny what she was seeing in front of her. Sam moved towards her, hugging her tightly.

"I thought you were dead," he said in relief.

"Yeah, you too," Kat said, still stunned. It was impossible; she had seen Sam's dead body only moments before. He couldn't be here, alive and standing, but yet here he was. And there was no way that Kat knew could bring a person back from the dead except—

A deal with a demon.

Kat gripped Sam's shirt tightly, not ready to let go of him as she realised what exactly Dean had meant when he said he was going to cheat death.

"Uh . . . Kat, I'm glad to see you too, but could you possibly—?" Sam looked down at her and she realised that she had him in a death-grip. Blushing violently, Kat released him, stepping away.

"Sorry."

"It's okay." Sam looked confused and disoriented as she helped him over to the bed. "Kat, what happened to me?"

"Uh . . . I'm not exactly sure," Kat admitted, deciding to go with the truth or at least what she knew of it. At least until Dean got back. "I was attacked by the Achiri and then when I woke up, I tried to find everybody and then I found your brother and then I passed out again."

Sam looked at her, noticing her bandages for the first time. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live."

"And . . . where is Dean?" Sam asked, looking around as though he expected his brother to come popping out from behind one of the cabinets.

Kat shook her head. "I don't know, he disappeared a little while ago. I'm not sure where he went." And that, she thought, was completely true. She had no idea where Dean had gone to or what demon he was getting himself mixed up in.

Changing the subject, Kat jerked her head towards the main room. "There's some food if you're hungry. You hungry?"

He nodded slowly, looking a bit distracted. "Come on, let's get some food."

By the time that they were digging into the pizza, Dean showed up, looking a bit better than he had the past couple of days and looked relieved when he saw his brother at the table, alive and well.

"Sammy?" Dean quickly moved over to his brother and hugged him tightly, his eyes flashing over to Kat as she sat there, watching them carefully. If the look on his face was any indication, then he knew that she knew. But she wouldn't say anything; that was Dean's business.

Sam winced as Dean hugged him too tightly and his brother pulled away, embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, man. I'm just . . . I'm just happy to see you up and around, that's all. Come on, sit down."

"Dean, what happened to me?" Sam asked as both of them joined Kat at the table. Dean looked nervous.

"Didn't she tell you?"

"I was pretty out of it for awhile, Dean," Kat said pointedly. "I wasn't sure what exactly happened."

Dean nodded in understanding, then looked at Sam. "Well, what do you remember?"

"I saw you and Bobby and . . ." Sam shook his head. "I felt this pain, this sharp pain, like white-hot, you know? And then you were running at me and . . . and that's about it."

"Yeah, that kid stabbed you in the back. You lost a lot of blood. It was pretty touch and go for awhile," Dean explained.

Sam stared. "But Dean, you can't patch up a wound that bad . . ."

"No, Bobby could," Dean answered. "Who was that kid, anyway?"

"His name's Jake," Kat volunteered. "We need to find him, before this demon does. Because I've got the feeling that this is just beginning. It's going to get a lot worse."

Dean looked at her, then at Sam. "Who exactly is this chick, anyway?"

"'This chick' has a name," Kat countered. "It's Kat and for your information, I can speak for myself." Sam couldn't help but laugh at Dean's expression and Kat smiled; he had a nice laugh, she decided. And a really nice smile, she thought as she saw his grin towards her.

"She's a hunter," Sam explained. He frowned slightly. "What I don't get is why three of us managed to walk out alive. The demon said that he only wanted one of us."

"He told you that?"

"Yeah," Sam said, sighing. "He appeared in a dream."

"He tell you anything else?"

"No, that was it. But if the demon only wanted one of us, then how did Kat, Jake, and I all walk away?" Sam asked.

"I'm pretty sure they thought I was dead," Kat said quietly. "I mean, I got attacked by the Achiri and I just barely got away from it alive. Maybe they thought that you were as good as dead too." She didn't look at either Winchester as she said this, keeping her gaze fixed on the window as Dean swiped a piece of pizza.

"Yeah, they probably thought it was over," Dean agreed. "So now that Yellow Eyes has Jake, what's he gonna do with him?"

"I don't know, but we got to stop him."

"Well, hold on, you need to get your rest," Dean insisted as Sam got to his feet, about to head out of the door. "We got time."

"No, we don't," Sam replied. "It's like Kat said, this is only the beginning. It's about to get a whole lot worse." He paused. "Did you call the Roadhouse? Do they know anything?" Kat looked at Dean as a lengthy pause stretched across the room. "Dean, what is it?"

"The Roadhouse is burned to the ground," Dean finally said, looking at the ground anxiously. "Ash is dead—"

"Ellen?" Kat asked in alarm. The woman who ran the saloon had become close to her over the past year. She was like a surrogate mother to her now and if anything happened to her . . .

Well, Kat wasn't sure what she could handle at this point.

"I don't know," Dean admitted. "Probably. And a lot of other hunters too."

"Demons?"

"Yeah, we think so. We think because Ash found something."

"What'd he find?" Kat asked.

"Bobby's working on that now."

"Well, then come on," Sam said, getting to his feet. "Bobby's only a few hours away." He winced slightly as he stood up and Kat moved over to him, ready to catch him if he fell. Dean was right there, grabbing his brother's shoulder to steady him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop, Sam, stop. You almost died there. I mean, what would I have—you just take care of yourself, huh? Just for a little bit?"

Sam shook his head. "I'm sorry, no."

Kat watched the two brothers as Sam pulled free of Dean's grasp and headed out the door and she turned to look at Dean, the questioning already in her eyes as she looked at him.

"A deal?" she said through gritted teeth. Dean swallowed and looked away, not meeting her eyes.

"You can't tell him," he said, pleadingly. "Please . . . Kat, was it?" She nodded, still too angry to say anything. "You can't say anything to him, please. You can't let him know."

"How long?" she demanded. He knew what she meant.

"One year," he answered.

Kat scoffed disbelievingly. "You stupid—" she began and shook her head as she looked away. "How could you do something like that?"

"He's my brother. Don't you have any siblings that you would've done the same thing for?"

Looking at him, Kat folded her arms across her chest. "Yes, I do," she whispered. "But I have to ask you something, Dean: how do you know that what you resurrected is completely and totally Sam?" She walked after where Sam had left. "That's the thing about resurrection spells, Dean. There's always consequences. Always," she said firmly as she left the cabin. A moment later, Dean followed.


	7. Omens and Realisations

**The Approaching Storm**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Seven: Omens and Realisations

Kat walked with Sam, keeping her gaze firmly ahead of her, not daring to look at Dean, still too angry with him. She had only been into this hunting business a year and she knew perfectly well that death was not something that was to be messed with. Hundreds of things could go wrong. People could come back wrong. And she did not want to think about what could have possibly happened to Sam, if he could have changed by coming back.

She didn't blame Sam for this. He didn't exactly have a choice in this. All he had done was lie there for a couple of days before his brother made a deal with a demon to bring him back from wherever it was that he had been. But she really hoped that the deal hadn't changed things for the worse.

As they climbed the steps of Bobby Singer's house, Kat kept her hand firmly attached to Sam's, not letting go. Judging from his expression, though, he didn't seem to mind as Dean rang the doorbell, ignoring the coupling between his younger brother and Kat.

Bobby Singer was an older hunter with a hardened, yet caring appearance underneath his old baseball cap, but his expression turned almost comical as he opened the door and saw Sam standing there, along with Dean and Kat.

"Hey, Bobby," Sam said with a smile at him, unaware of anything unusual going on.

"Sam," Bobby said, sounding stunned, but his voice was still gruff as he stared at both of the Winchester boys, though his eyes hardened in suspicion as he looked at Dean, who didn't look at him in the eye. "It's good to see you . . . up and around."

"Yeah, thanks for patching me up," Sam said, slapping him on the back as he headed into the house with Kat.

"Don't mention it," Bobby said as he and Dean followed them. He looked at Kat suspiciously, noting the closeness between her and Sam. "I don't believe we've met."

"I'm Kat Lawrence," she introduced herself, holding out her hand for Bobby to accept it.

"Bobby Singer," he said with a nod. "Is she one of the psychics that were with you?" he asked, directing the question at Sam, who nodded. "Lawrence . . . you wouldn't happen to be Jack Lawrence's daughter, by any chance, would you?"

Kat nodded weakly. "Yeah, I am," she answered.

"I knew Jack," he said. "Good man. Good hunter. You look just like him."

"Thanks," Kat said with a smile at him, already charmed by him. She liked Bobby; there was just something about him that she couldn't dislike. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's good to meet you too," Bobby agreed, his eyes drifting back towards Sam and then Dean again. "I only wish that it was on better terms."

"Well, Sam's better and we're back in it now, so . . . what do you know?" Dean asked him.

"Well, I found something," Bobby admitted, scratching his beard. "But I'm not sure what it means."

"What is it?" Sam asked.

Bobby gestured for them to follow him and he pulled out a map of the Wyoming, gesturing all across the state. "Demonic omens," he reported. "Like a freaking tidal wave. Cattle deaths, lightning storms . . . they skyrocketed from out of nowhere. Except here, in Southern Wyoming. Just this one place."

"Wyoming?" Dean echoed. Bobby nodded.

"Yeah, that one area's totally clean," he answered flatly, looking back down at the map as Kat stared at it, trying to think of why this sounded so familiar. She could have sworn that she had read something about Southern Wyoming somewhere. "It's almost as if . . ."

"Demons are surrounding it?" Kat suggested. Bobby nodded. "What's out there, though?"

"No idea," Bobby answered. "And by this point, my eyes are swimming." He looked at her and Sam. "Would you two mind taking a look at it? Maybe you could catch something that I couldn't."

Kat nodded and Sam said immediately, "Sure."

Turning towards the elder Winchester, Bobby said flatly, "Come on, Dean. I've got some more books in the truck. Help me lug them in." Dean sighed, but obeyed, heading out the back door with Bobby.

Watching them go, Kat shook her head, looking through the omens and stuff. "There's something familiar about this," she said slowly and Sam glanced at her. "I just wish I could remember what it was."

"You think you've heard something about this somewhere?" Sam asked as he pulled another pile of stuff towards him.

"Yeah, I'm just not sure where I ready it at or what exactly it was that I read," Kat answered, shaking her head in aggravation as she leaned her head back against the chair. "So, that's Bobby, huh?" Sam grinned and nodded. "I like him. He seems nice."

"He's a good guy. He's really helped us out ever since our dad died," Sam told her. Kat nodded, watching him.

Actually, she was more of admiring the view from where Sam was sitting, his messy hair flopping into his face. He caught her eyes and she blushed, looking away quickly. Sam chuckled as his hand rested on hers.

"Are you sure that you're feeling okay?" she asked him, still worried about him, about his return. People didn't just come back to life and not be permanently changed by it. That just didn't happen.

"I'm fine," Sam assured her, but his voice was softer than when Dean had asked him that about a hundred times on the way over here. "But thank you for caring."

"What are friends for?" Kat said, smiling. Sam grinned back and she fell under his brown gaze, entranced by it. Both of them stared at one another and Kat slowly leaned closer to him at the same time that he moved towards her.

Her heart was beating in her chest, pounding so fast that she thought that it was a jackhammer. Kat could feel her breath coming out in soft gasps as they moved closer and closer, their lips almost touching—

"Sam! Kat! Get in here!" Dean yelled, causing them to jerk apart. Kat was breathing very hard as she stared at Sam before they both jumped out of their seats, racing for where Dean and Bobby were coming inside with—

"Ellen!" Kat yelled happily, racing over to the woman who had been like her mother since she had started hunting, and embracing her tightly. Ellen's arms moved around her and she gripped Kat tightly. Kat was so relieved to see Ellen alive that she almost forgot about what had just occurred between her and Sam.

Almost.

Bobby pulled Kat off of Ellen and guided the saloon owner over to the table, pouring her a shot of holy water and pushing it towards her. Ellen caught it before it went off of the table.

"Bobby, is this really necessary?"

"Just a belt of holy water. Shouldn't hurt," Bobby assured her. Ellen gave him a look before she drank the water instantly. Kat held her breath.

Nothing happened. No smoke, no burning, nothing. She was just Ellen and just as quirky as ever as she pushed the shot glass back to Bobby. "Whiskey, now, if you don't mind," she told him and the hunter obeyed. "Kat, it's so good to see you, sweetie. I was starting to get worried about you when I didn't hear from you on that last job."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Kat told her with a sigh. "I was just gonna get some dinner and I was gonna call you after I got back to my room when I got abducted by psycho demons."

"Ellen, what happened?" Dean asked. "How'd you get out?"

"I wasn't supposed to," Ellen said thickly. "I was supposed to be in there with everybody else. But we ran out of pretzels of all things. It was just dumb luck." She drained the whiskey, releasing a deep sigh. "Anyway, that's when Ash called, panic in his voice. He told me to look in the safe. Then the call cut out. By the time that I got back, the flames were sky high." She released a sharp, bitter laugh. "I couldn't have been gone more than fifteen minutes." Shaking her head, the saloon owner exhaled slowly, tears in her eyes. "A lot of good people died in there. And I got to live. Lucky me," she said bitterly, draining another shot glass.

"No," Kat whispered, gently laying a hand on the older woman's shoulder. "Ellen, you're alive for a reason. Ash found something and I'd be willing to bet that demons don't want us to know what it was that he found. Everything happens for a reason," she insisted. "The demons blew up the Roadhouse because Ash found something." She looked down; she had friends at the Roadhouse, some of which were probably . . . "I wish that there was time to mourn, Ellen, but I don't think there is." She locked eyes with Sam. "Something big is starting."

"The girl makes sense," Bobby agreed before looking back at Ellen. "You mentioned a safe . . ."

Ellen nodded. "A hidden safe that we keep in the basement," she answered.

"Demons get what was in it?"

"No," Ellen answered, pulling her jacket aside and withdrawing something from the inside pocket, unfolding it to reveal a map. Kat stared down at the map of Wyoming, her forehead wrinkling in confusion as she saw five X's on it, spread across the southern part of the state.

"Wyoming?" Dean demanded. "What does that mean?" He gestured towards the lines as Kat stood up, looking at the X's.

"Oh. My. God," she said in shock. Everyone looked at her and her head snapped up. "Does anybody have a pen?"

Bobby pulled one out of his front pocket, handing it over to her. Kat poised it over the map, starting with one of the X's before she started to connect each of them, until she was at the point where she had started and she took a step back.

"Take a look at that," she said faintly, staring down at the five-point star that was on the map.

"Is that what I think it is?" Dean asked.

"It's a Devil's Trap," Sam whispered, his voice rising with anticipation. "A hundred-square mile Devil's Trap. It's incredible."

"And look here," Kat added, tapping where she had drawn the lines. "There's railroads connecting to each of these spots. Iron lines . . . so no demon would be getting across there."

"I don't believe it," Bobby said. All four of them looked around to see Bobby holding a book out in front of him, his forehead creased. "Each of these X's is an abandoned frontier church. All of them mid-19th century and all of them built . . . by Samuel Colt."

"Colt?" Kat said sharply. "I know that name. My dad had an entry about him in his guidebook that he passed down to me. That's the guy that built that gun, right? Supposed to be able to kill anything?"

"Yeah," Sam answered with a nod. "We actually had the gun last year, but it's gone now."

"You let a very powerful gun that could probably kill this demon out of your hands?" Kat said disbelievingly.

"Yes."

"Stupid."

"Yes," Sam agreed with a small grin. She shook her head, unable to stop from smiling back.

"I've never heard of anything that massive," Ellen said, staring down at the lines Kat had drawn.

"No one has," Bobby told her.

"And after all these years, none of the lines are broken?" Dean asked. "I mean, it still works?"

"Definitely," Sam said with such determination that his brother looked at him, startled.

"How do you know?"

"The omens that Bobby found," Kat informed the elder Winchester. "Why else would they be circling around that part of Wyoming? They've got to be trying to find some way to get in there."

"Why, though?" Ellen wanted to know. "What's inside there?"

"There's nothing out there," Dean answered firmly as he looked up from the books that he had been digging in for awhile now. "Nothing except this old cowboy cemetery right in the middle."

"A cemetery?" Kat repeated.

"What's so important about a cemetery?" Sam asked, frowning. "What's Colt trying to protect?"

Dean suddenly looked up, his expression changing. "I just had a very disturbing thought," he said. "What if Colt wasn't trying to keep the demons out? What if he was trying to keep something in?"

Kat stared at him. "Thank you," she told him. "That's a very comforting thought, Winchester."

"You think?" he said just as sarcastically. Kat rolled her eyes, wishing that she some of her stuff with her. A few of her dad's weapons, his guidebook, anything. Using borrowed weapons . . . it just wasn't as comfortable as using her own stuff.

"Could they do it, Bobby?" Sam asked. "Could they get inside?"

"This thing's so powerful, you'd practically need an A-bomb to destroy it," Bobby said, shaking his head. "No way a full-blood demon gets across."

"But humans could," Kat pointed out, her blood going cold as she started to realise what exactly the reason was why the demon had gathered a bunch of psychics and what his game plan was.

"Jake," Sam said, his voice cold.

Kat got to her feet, picking up the weapons that Dean had loaned her until they were able to get hers back, which were currently in Seattle, along with her car.

"So," she said pleasantly, looking around at the other four, "who wants to take a drive up to Wyoming?"


	8. The Beginning of a War

**The Approaching Storm**

by the Lady of the Mists

Chapter Eight: The Beginning of a War

It took about an hour for them to actually get out of the house and a half-hour of that was Kat and Dean arguing with each other on Kat actually coming, finally ending with Kat punching Dean straight in the jaw and Ellen telling him flat off that they were coming with them.

"She's as good as a hunter as her daddy was," she informed Dean, leaving no room for argument as Kat picked up a few weapons. "Kat's a good person to have watching your back."

Sam smiled as he took Kat's hand again, sending tinkles down her spine as they headed out to the Impala, with her climbing into the back and staring out the window as they raced against time, desperate to get to Wyoming before it was too late.

They arrived about two hours before sunset at the old cemetery and from the looks of things, Jake hadn't arrived yet, so they settled down, preparing themselves for battle.

Kat gripped her gun tightly as they waited endlessly for Jake to arrive to do whatever it was that the demon wanted him to do. She didn't usually hate people—demons notwithstanding—but Jake she really did hate. How he could turn against his own kind was beyond her.

But she was pretty sure that the demon had done some manipulating to turn him.

He was a regular Anakin Skywalker, she thought humourlessly as Sam sat down next to her, his hand brushing against her leg until he realised what he was doing and pulled his hand away. Kat smiled at him, leaning against the headstone.

"You know what I just realised?" she said softly, keeping her voice down. "Headstones are not the most comfortable pieces of furniture. If I ever do get a place of my own again, tombstones are not going to be in my accessorising."

Sam managed a soft laugh, shaking his head. "You are insane," he informed her.

"Well, you have to be a little bit insane to do this job," Kat pointed out.

"True," he agreed, looking at her with a small smile. Then he reached towards her, reaching for a piece of strand hair that had fallen out of her ponytail and brushed it away from her face. She shivered at his touch, but she loved the feeling.

"If we live through this," he said quietly, "remind me that I wanted to ask you something."

"Ask me what?" Kat asked, perplexed.

Sam smiled. "Well, you're just gonna have to make sure that you survive," he said, shrugging. "That way, you'll find out."

Kat made a face at him, but caught Bobby giving them warning looks and quieted down. "If we live through this," she whispered, "remind me to thank you."

"For what?"

"I'll let you know," she said with a wink. Sam grinned as night began to fall and they heard footsteps approaching the cemetery.

Lowering herself further behind the headstone that they were behind, Kat gripped the gun tightly, looking at Sam as Jake passed them, dressed in normal clothes instead of his Army uniform. He too had a gun in his hand, one that was a lot more fashioned than she had ever seen before.

He walked passed them, unaware that he was surrounded and outnumbered as they all got up, one-by-one, as he approached a crypt. Not until all of them had their guns on him and Sam greeted him.

"Howdy, Jake."

Spinning around, Jake stared at Sam as though he saw a ghost, his dark eyes wide with shock. "You . . ." he whispered, stunned. "You . . . you were dead. I killed you."

Well, Kat thought tiredly, he wasn't wrong. And even though she had pretty much promised Dean that she wouldn't say anything, she kind of hoped that Jake would get the message to Sam. She hated lying to him and keeping something secret from him was lying in her book.

Not even a second later, her hopes came true.

"I did!" Jake shouted. "I cut clean through your spinal cord, man." Sam gave a start at this, looking towards his brother with something of suspicion in his brown eyes. "You can't be alive. You can't be."

"You might want to take a few steps back there, Jake," Kat said warningly. "Now we can do this the easy way or . . ." She paused, considering. "Well, I guess it's just the hard way, isn't it?"

Jake's eyes narrowed at her as Bobby took a step towards the soldier. "Okay, just take it real easy there, son."

"And if I don't?" Jake sneered.

"Wait and see," Sam returned, his eyes returning to him. Kat glanced at him, her heart beating very fast in her chest and it had nothing to do with being around Sam. Okay, it might have something to do with that, but not all of it. No, she was more worried about him and what he was going to do.

Jake laughed darkly. "What? Are you a tough guy all of sudden? What are you going to do? Kill me?" he suggested.

"It's a thought," Sam said darkly.

"You had your chance, both of you did," Jake pointed out, glancing at Kat now. "Neither one of you could do the job."

"You were innocent then," Kat pointed out. "And you were on our side—or at least we hoped that you were. Things change," she said firmly. "So if it's a choice between killing you and the end of the world . . . well, you haven't given me any reason to want to pick you."

Releasing a small laugh, Jake began to smile, his eyes flashing towards Ellen, who held a gun on him.

"What are you smiling at, you—" Dean called him a word that, if things were completely different, Kat would've smacked him for.

"Hey, lady, do me a favour," Jake told Ellen. Kat felt power in his words as he spoke. "Point that gun to your head." Ellen didn't hesitate as she obeyed his command. "See, that Ava girl was right. Once you give into it, there's all sorts of new Jedi mind tricks you can learn."

"Yeah, you're a regular Anakin Skywalker," Kat said flatly, repeating her earlier thought. "And we all know how _that_ turned out."

"Let her go," Sam warned, his face impassive as he glared at the soldier.

"Shoot him," Ellen said, her voice shaking.

"You'll be mopping up skull before you get a shot off," Jake informed them. Kat swallowed, her bravo faltering now that her surrogate mother was in danger. "Everybody, put your guns down. Except for you, sweetheart," he added to Ellen. Kat sighed, but set her gun to the ground, followed by the three men. "Okay, thank you."

Kat didn't waste any time. She swung her hand, using her telekinesis to throw the gun away from Ellen, a shot going off the second that it was away from the woman's skull.

Using the commotion, Jake pushed the gun that he had into the crypt and turned it as Sam shot him in the back.

Kat grabbed Ellen, looking in horror as she stared at the Sam in horror, watching him shoot Jake time after time until he was lying dead on the ground. She looked at Dean, who looked just as shocked as she felt, as he walked over to his brother.

Walking over to the crypt, Kat stared at the series of locks on the mechanism as she finally remembered what she had read in her dad's journal about this part of Wyoming.

"Oh, no," she moaned. "A Devil's Gate."

"What?" Ellen asked in alarm.

"It's hell," Bobby whispered as Dean ripped the gun away from the crypt. "Take cover, now!" Kat didn't waste any time. She raced behind the tombstone, landing gracefully on the other side and took cover, covering her head with her hands as black smoke exploded from the doors as they split open.

Demons were escaping from hell by the dozen. A hundred, maybe two hundred all split across the sky, breaking the iron lines that were blocking their escape.

"What just happened?" Dean yelled.

"It's a Devil's Gate!" Kat shouted to him. "It's a stupid door that leads directly to hell."

"Come on! We've got to shut that gate!" Ellen shouted. She, Kat, Sam, and Bobby raced for the door, attempting to push it shut.

Pushing with all her strength, Kat saw a man in the cemetery, holding the Colt, and had Dean on the ground, his forehead bleeding. Sam released his hold on the door, racing to help his brother.

Kat groaned as she pushed with all of her strength, but she suck in her breath as she saw Sam flung against a tree. She looked towards Sam and Dean, then at Bobby and Ellen.

"We've got this!" Bobby yelled at her. "Go!"

She obeyed, letting go of the door and racing for the brothers and the demon, her hand moving as he sensed her coming, about to fling her aside, but Kat pushed against the pressure, fighting against his telekinesis, matching it with her own.

She was pretty sure that she caught him by surprise, because his yellow eyes flickered dangerously. "You're becoming more trouble than you're worth," he said flatly. Kat took a defensive stance as they circled one another. "You don't know the truth, do you? About what really happened to your daddy all those years ago?"

Kat felt her blood turn cold and she raised her head towards him. "So you were the one who killed him. Why am I not surprised? You killed the rest of my family."

"Well, you're smarter than I gave you credit for. Tell me, do you want to hear how you couldn't protect them? Do you want to know about how your mommy screamed even while she was seeing her insides spill out onto the floor? Or how your little sister stayed alive long enough to feel every single flame that ravaged her body? Or how about Zach?"

"Stop," Kat said, her resolve weakening.

"What do you think he would think of you now?" the demon wanted to know. "You promised to marry him, that means loving one man for the rest of your life, isn't it?"

"I said stop," Kat said, her voice rising.

"How would he feel, do you think, if he knew you were falling for another man?" he taunted her. "What would he think, if he knew that you were in love with Sammy?"

Kat couldn't help; taunting about Zach was one thing, but revealing her feelings about Sam was another thing entirely. She lost control and when she lost control, her telekinesis wasn't as useful. It broke easily and he was able to fling her across the tree, right onto Sam, whose brown eyes were focused onto her blue ones.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Don't," Kat whispered, seeing the demon talking to Dean now, but they were too far away to hear their words. "Sam, I . . ."

"I know," he whispered. "Me, too."

Her heart lifted with hope and joy and a small smile spread across her face as she turned her head and it slipped away as she saw the demon getting to his feet.

"Anyway, thanks a bunch," he said, rubbing his hands together. "I knew I kept you alive for some reasons. Until now, anyway," he added, cocking the Colt and pointing it to the oldest Winchester. "I couldn't have done it without your pathetic, self-loathing, self-destructive desire to sacrifice yourself for your family."

"Dean!" Sam whispered as Kat saw a figure appear from behind the demon and she gasped as he grabbed him.

"Oh, my god," she said as the two fought one another, the man yanking the demon out of the host until he threw the man off of him and returned to the body he was possessing.

But by that time, Dean had scrambled free and Kat and Sam were running to help them, but Dean had the gun in his hands and pointed it towards the possessed man, the yellow eyes flashing with fear, before pulling the trigger.

Kat watched with a mixture of anger, fury, and satisfaction as he jolted, his yellow eyes flickering to blue and back again before he finally fell to the ground, returning to the man's normal blue as the gate was finally closed behind them.

Sam moved away from Kat and over to Dean and the man who had fought the demon—who she now realised had to be their father John—as Kat felt a presence behind her and an unearthly glow appeared, revealing another man behind her.

He was tall and blond with a plaid, flannel shirt and the leather jacket Kat had taken from the fire and was now wearing herself, his hair falling into his face and right into his vivid blue eyes.

Kat's eyes.

Kat's father.

"Dad," she whispered, not sure if she was really seeing him as he took a step towards her, a smile spreading across his face, which apart from being more masculine, was the image of hers. Kat felt tears spark in her eyes as she took a step towards her father.

"Kitty-Kat," he said gently, using his own nickname for her, which Stephanie had taken over after he had died. "My little girl . . . oh, you're so beautiful, sweetheart."

"Daddy," she whispered, her eyes filled with tears as she moved closer to her. "Can I hug you? I mean . . ."

He laughed as he opened his arms to her and Kat moved easily into her father's arms, gripping his jacket tightly and inhaling the familiar scent of leather and cologne.

"It's okay, Kat," he whispered into her ear. "It's all right."

"I've missed you," she whispered. He nodded gently, moving her hair away from her face. "There's so much that I want to say, so many things that I want to ask—"

"And I wish I could answer them," her father said regretfully. "But I don't have the time. I only have a few minutes, enough to make sure that you're okay and to take John to the other side."

Kat swallowed, nodding in understanding. "I love you, Daddy," she whispered hoarsely.

"I love you, too, sweetheart," he whispered, hugging her one last time before he released her and they walked over to the Winchesters. "John."

The patriarch of the Winchester clan looked up away from his sons and over to where Jack Lawrence was standing with his daughter, his jaw opening in surprise as he stared at his old friend. "Jack," he said, his voice gruff and rough. "How are you . . .?"

"It's time, old friend," Jack answered gently, holding out his hand for John to take. "Mary's waiting for you."

John took one last look at his boys before he took Jack's hand and there was a flash of white and then both of them were gone, vanished from sight. Kat stared at the sight where they had been before looking at Sam and Dean, who looked just as stunned.

For a long time, they just stared at each other and then Dean walked over to the demon, who lay dead on the ground. "Well," he said finally, "check that off of the to-do list."

"You did it," Sam said proudly.

"I didn't do it alone," Dean admitted, looking to Kat. "Was that . . .?"

"My dad," Kat answered. "That was my dad."

Sam nodded slowly before looking at the crypt. "Do you think . . . do you really think he climbed out of hell?"

"A door was open," Dean pointed out. "If anybody's stubborn enough to do it, it would be him."

"Where do you think he is?"

"With your mom," Kat answered, wrapping an arm around his. "And my parents and my sister . . . wherever they are." Sam smiled as he leaned his head against hers.

"I kind of can't believe it, Dean," Sam admitted, running his hand through his hair. "I mean, our whole lives . . . everything . . . has been prepping for this and now . . ." He gave a small laugh. "I kind of don't know what to say."

"I do," Dean answered as he stooped to the body that had contained the demon. "That was for our parents."

"All of ours," Kat said coldly.

Dean smiled at the two of them, but Kat noticed the sadness behind it as he walked towards his car and Sam looked down at her apologetically. "Go," she told him, knowing the brothers had to talk.

Sam smiled and bent down, kissing her. Kat was startled by the movement, but felt the kiss deepen as she returned it, her arms moving around his neck as she kissed him tenderly.

"Want to go see a movie sometime?" he asked her with a smile.

Kat laughed. "Sure. Go talk to your brother," she ordered. Sam smiled and obeyed as he walked after Dean while Kat hung back with Ellen and Bobby for awhile until they headed towards the brothers.

When they approached, Kat saw the difference in Sam immediately. By the look on his face, Kat knew that Sam knew about Dean's deal.

"Well, Yellow-Eyes might be dead," Ellen told them, "but a lot more got through that gate."

"How many do you think?" Dean asked.

"An entire army," Kat said without any hesitation.

"Maybe more," Sam added with conviction.

"Hope that you three are ready," Bobby said. "'Cause the war has just begun."

"Well, then," Dean said as he tossed the Colt into the trunk, looking at Kat. "Get into car, Princess. Come on, Sammy. We've got work to do."

AN: Hey, I stumbled upon this chapter when I was going through my flash drive and realized that I hadn't posted this one yet, so I thought I should maybe update and finish the story. Sorry, guys, I forgot about it, honestly. But I hope that you enjoy and thanks for all of the reviews that you've given me.

Lady of the Mists


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